Eritrea 122 Christians detained in May

Christian
Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has been informed that 122 Eritrean Christians were
detained in May 2017 in a series of round-ups of members of unregistered denominations
in various locations around the country.

The
detentions mark a new phase in a crackdown that has been ongoing since May
2002, when the Eritrean government effectively outlawed religious practices not
affiliated with the Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran and Orthodox Christian
denominations or Sunni Islam.

Forty-five
Christians, including entire families, elderly men and a disabled woman, were
taken from their homes in Adi Quala town in the south of the country and
transported to Adi Aglis detention camp. The arrests left 23 children without
their parents.

Fifteen
Christians were arrested in Gindae town in the Northern Red Sea Region, in an
ongoing operation that has forced others to flee to safer areas.

In
the Godaif district of the capital Asmara, 17 Christians were rounded up on 28
May 2017. Forty-five others, mostly women, had been rounded up a week
earlier in another part of the city as they gathered at a party arranged by a
recently married couple. Further arrests are anticipated as local district
committees, composed of members of the security services, the ruling party, the
local administration and the Orthodox Church, continue their house to house
inquiries. Christians in the city have begun a period of prayer and
fasting for peace and safety.

In
her latest
report to the Human Rights Council (HRC), Sheila B. Keetharuth, the United
Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Eritrea, noted that “the practice of
arbitrary arrest and detention of individuals based on their religious belief
continues,” and referenced earlier arrests in Ghindae and Adi Quala, as well as
the continuing detention of Patriarch Antonios of the Eritrean Orthodox Church.
Amongst the report’s recommendations is a call for the immediate and
unconditional release of “all those unlawfully and arbitrarily detained,
including members of the G-15, journalists and members of religious groups.”

CSW’s
Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said: “These arrests signify a renewed intensity
in the crackdown that has been ongoing since 2002, and are a clear indication
that the severe repression of freedom of religion or belief continues unabated
in Eritrea. In her latest report, the Special Rapporteur noted that Eritrea has
ignored the bulk of recommendations from her previous reports, while those made
by the Commission of Inquiry have gone unheeded. In view of the continuing
violations and lack of cooperation, we call on the HRC to support the renewal
of the Special Rapporteur’s mandate, and also to urge the international community
to ensure that perpetrators of crimes against humanity are held accountable,
including through universal jurisdiction, whenever this is appropriate.”